Dreams and Visions of Another Universe
by Jaidfyre
Summary: There are things connected to the heart and mind that even the Doctor can't comprehend.


"Doctor!" She cried shaking her head in frustration. "Doctor!" The tears slipped down her cheeks unbidden. He was so far away from her and she couldn't get to him. He was in so much pain and every fiber of her being longed to run to him and hold him close to her heart. She felt this inborn need to have his arms around her reassuring her that he was alright despite the cut up and beaten shape he was in physically. He looked so defeated and angry and, and old, she realized. What was going on? Why couldn't he hear her calling out to him? Why was he in so much pain?

"Rose? Rose?" She heard a familiar voice coming to her softly as if from far away. She felt her tears being wiped away from her face. Instead of comforting her, this action only caused her body to be wracked in uncontrollable sobbing.

"Rose?!" She heard again. This time more insistent with extreme concern interlaced throughout.

She was trying to open her eyes now. She struggled to emerge from what she now realized was, must be, had to be, a dream.

Soft light slowly poured in the window as the face of her Doctor came in to focus. Concern etched across his features. The Doctor had a feeling what was wrong but for the life of him couldn't understand how she could be experiencing this. Her link to the TARDIS must be stronger than he thought.

Rose was fully awake now and sobbing in his arms. The Doctor ran his fingers through her golden strands and tried to shush away her tears. He found himself rocking her trying to calm her as well as himself.

Rose lifted her tear-stained face to his and searched for his lips with her own. Gently and needily she drew the comfort she needed from them then she just held her face to his until her breathing calmed down and her thoughts came into focus. She pulled away and looked him in the eyes sadly.

"Why are you hurting so badly, my Doctor?" she asked not really expecting a response. She was surprised when the Doctor wrapped his arms around her more tightly and laid his chin atop her head and responded;

"I don't know for sure but the pain must be so great for it to affect us both in this way." He sighed. "I did not expect the sadness to reach out and connect to your thoughts as it did mine. What do you remember, my love?" he asked gently.

Nothing fully surprised her anymore so she pushed aside the questions as to how he knew what she was talking about in the first place and replied, "Nothing concrete, more random images and emotions than anything. I couldn't get to you and I was trying so hard to call out your name and you couldn't hear me." A sudden realization lit her honey brown eyes, "How can we feel his pain when we are so far removed from him?"

"There are many things in this universe and others I have to admit a failure to comprehend. I would think our extreme separation would make any connection impossible but there are things about the heart and emotions that I will never make sense of as it is beyond logic."

Rose buried her head into his chest as he continued to ramble on about how the workings of the brain were so complex in their connections and abilities. She closed her eyes and let him talk because she knew it was his way of comforting himself.

"Just think of it this way, Rose, if we are able to connect so strongly that makes your chances of getting back that much greater."

Rose reached up and placed her fingers over his lips at this point. He smiled under her hand knowing this was never a subject she willingly broached. It made his heart skip a beat knowing she felt that strongly about him, even in his human state. He had been running over several scenarios in his head of how she could get back to her universe without harm. He couldn't bear to think of a time he would not be there to protect her, albeit even for a short period of time. He had no doubt that as soon as his time lord self sensed her back in that universe, he would be there as soon as physically possible.

Right now all that really consumed his thoughts was what his time lord self was experiencing in the other universe. He sensed that he was getting close to a regeneration. This was not leading up to a typical regeneration, though. Then again, was any regeneration _typical?_

The TARDIS seemed to sense the extreme amount of distress her Doctor was in and was relaying it to him and Rose across the expanse of the void. The Doctor's heart ached knowing how alone he was right now in that other universe.

"Doctor?" Rose questioned him quietly breaking his reverie, "Does he have someone? Please tell me he has someone." She couldn't quite hide the tremor in her voice. Rose never liked to think of her Doctor alone.

The Doctor let out a heavy sigh, "I honestly don't know, Rose. After Donna, I don't think I would have the heart to…"

Rose wrapped her arms around him a bit tighter. "I know. She was one of a kind, wasn't she? I wish I had gotten to know her better. Have you ever thought about trying to find her counterpart in this universe?"

The Doctor smiled at this, "Oh, and then say what to her? Hi there, Donna, I knew another version of you in an alternate universe and we were best friends. Wanna give it a go?"

Rose giggled at the preposterousness of this suggestion. "I don't know, while we wait for our baby girl to grow into a full grown TARDIS, I just thought it might be nice to find some more friends."

"We'll see darling Rose, we'll see. Try to get back to sleep now. It's early yet." He kissed her affectionately on the forehead and let her roll over in the bed in order for her to get more comfortable.

Meanwhile the Doctor was finding it impossible to sleep. Visions kept pressing into his mind's eye. It was hard for him to imagine why images of the Master and President Rassilon were pressing foremost in those images. He couldn't fathom what mess he had gotten himself in. After all, those two were long gone. Weren't they?

He lay in bed with his arms tightly around Rose as he tried to connect with his other self across the void, attempting to let him know that if nothing else was going right, Rose was safe. Rose was loved. Next thing he knew, he had fallen asleep as tears seeped out of his tightly closed lids. A troubled night of sleep awaited the human time lord.


End file.
